Tank refill and air gap



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed. Oct. 27, 1939 ll TN |NVENTOR WIHmm C.Groe gar BM qcke Has ORNEYS y 1941- D w. c. GROENIGER 0,

TANK REFILL AND AIR GAP Filed Oct. 27, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORWiHlam CGroeni er BY H15 RNEYS Patented May 6, 1941 mans TANK REFILL ANDAIR GAP William C. Groeniger, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to John B. PierceFoundation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York ApplicationOctober 27, 1939, Serial No. 301,570

(Cl. 1372l) 1 Claim.

My present invention relates to flush tanks, and more particularly to animproved flush tank filling means.

A primary object of my invention is an improved assembly of elementswhereby there is provided a sufficiently large air gap between the meansfor delivering water to the flush tank, and any possible height whichsuch water shall attain in the tank, to prevent the establishment of asiphon by means of which water once having issued from the deliverymeans will be drawn back into such means.

Another object of my invention is a construction for reducing the noiseoccasioned by the delivery of water to a flush tank.

A further object of my invention is an improved construction forpreventing water which has once issued from a source of supply from everreturning thereto and polluting the source of supply.

Other objects and novel features of the construction and arrangement ofparts comprising the device will appear as the description of theinvention progresses.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a central sectional elevation through a flush tankillustrating an improved tank supply valve in operative relation to thenoise eliminating means for water entering the tank through the valve;

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,looking in the direction of the arrows on said line;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the upper left-hand corner of theconstruction shown in Figure 1,

with the cover of the tank removed for clearness of illustration;

Figure 4 is a sectional plan view on the line 4-4 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is a sectional plan view on the line 55 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings, H] designates a flush tank provided with acover I I. Such flush tank may be made of any suitable material, or-

dinarily ceramic material. The flush tank is provided on the bottom withan opening in which is fitted a discharge nipple I3 having on its topopen end a seat for a rubber valve 14 and plurality of integralvertically arranged flutes i;

I8, which extend to the bottom of the tank ill. The depth of the flutesI8 decreases as the bottom of the tank It) is approached, as clearlyshown in Figure 2, and thus water flowing downwardly along the flutes i8is directed across the bottom of the tank into engagement with the frontwall thereof and exerts a scouring action on the bottom of the tank.Also, the construction of rib I1 is such as to provide a vertical grooveIla in the outer face of the rear wall of the tank. The groove Fla is toprovide means for housing the vertical supply pipe furnishing water tothe valve 2! and thereby eliminates the necessity of such supply pipepassing through Water in the tank where it would be subject to thecorrosive action of the water as well as furnishing possibly a means forhaving the water supply polluted.

At the upper end of the rib H, and above any possible water level in thetank I0, is a perforation l9, through which extends the externallythreaded hollow tubular member 23 of a valve body 2|. The end of themember 2%! e tends into and is housed in the groove Il a. Associatedwith the tubular threaded end 20 is a nut 22 and washers 23 which aid inestablishing a fluid tight joint between the valve body 21 and the rearwall of the tank Ill.

The valve body 2| is provided with a chamber 24 which communicatesdirectly with the hollow tubular member 2% Fitted within the chamber 24is a split cupped diaphragm valve 25, which is retained in position inthe chamber 24 by the cover member 26. The valve body 2| is alsoprovided with a chamber Zl-Which communicates directly with dischargeorifices 28 and indirectly with the chamber 24 by means of a passage 29.Also, the chamber 21 is provided with an outlet 39 to which is connectedan afterfill pipe 3!, the free end of which communicates with the upperopen end of the overflow pipe IS.

The lip member is employed to insure easy and positive operation of thevalve structure. It will be noted that the disk portion of the lipmember 25 is provided with a relatively small perforation communicatingwith the inlet 29. Therefore, water filling the inlet pipe 20 seepsthrough the small perforation in through the space in the cover 25 belowthe lipped member 25. Also, at this time it may be assumed that thevalve diaphragm 34 is in engagement with its valve and, therefore, thereis an equalization of pressure on either side of the lipped valve 25. Ifthe lever 4'! is operated to move the valve 34 off its seat, there is asudden lowering of pressure on the upper side of the lipped valve 25with the result that the split lip of such lipped valve 25 opensallowing the major portion of the water on the underside thereof to flowoutward past valve 34. This permits the pressure of the water passingthrough the pipe 28 onto the top surface of the lip member 25 to bemoved downward with great ease and great suddenness and allow the waterto flow through the inlet pipe 20 in a manner usual in such apparatus.

The discharge orifices are so located that when the valve body is inposition in the tank ID as to discharge the water directly onto theflutes [8, the discharge orifices direct the water downwardly onto theflutes and inwardly against the flutes, and such flutes break up thecontinuity of flow of the Water and this breaking up of the continuityof flow, together with the fact that the distance of the dischargeorifices from the flutes I8 is relatively small, tends to reduce thenoise which has heretofore been occasioned by the discharge of waterinto the tank In.

The chamber 21 is provided with a cover 32 secured in position by aplurality of screws 33. Clamped between the upper face of the body 2|and cover 32 is a diaphragm valve 34 and which valve engages witha'valve seat 35 formed at the upper end of the passage 29.

Formed integral with the'cover 32 at one side thereof, are spaced lugsor ears 35, in which is pivotally mounted,.on a shaft 31, one end of alever 38. The other end of this lever 33 is pivotally attached to thelower end of a link 39, such link extending upwardly, as viewed inFigure 1, and is pivotally connected at its upper end to an operatinglever 40. The operating lever 40 is pivotally mounted on a shaft 4|secured in lugs or ears 42 that are formed integral with the cover 32. a

The cover 32 of the valve is provided with a centrally arranged opening43 in which is slidably mounted a member 44. This member is secured atits lower end to the diaphragm valve 34, and having that portion thereofexterior of the cover 32 provided with a substantially rectangularpassage 45 through which passes the lever 38. The lever 38, on thatportion thereof which is in association with the member 44, is providedwith rounded portions as clearly shown in Figure 1, and which engagewith the upper and lower surfaces 'of the rectangular slot 45 with asliding orrolling motion. The operating lever 48 has attached thereto inany convenient manner a rod 41, which extends outwardly along the lengthof the tank l!) and has secured at its free end a hollow buoyant float48, usually and ordinarily made of light gauge metal.

The normal level of water within the tank I is designated by thereference numeral 49. When the water reaches this height in the tank !0,the buoyancy of. the float 48 will swing the lever 40 on its'pivot shaft4|, thus depressing the link 39, with a consequent rotation in aclockwise direction of the lever 39 about its pivot shaft 3'1. There isthereby caused a downward movement of the diaphragm valve 34 intoengagement with the valve seat 35 to shut off the flow of water passingtherethrough.

Under some circumstances, because of sluggishness of operation of themechanism above described, or the sticking of some part thereof, thewater will rise above the normal water level, as indicated by thereference numeral 49, and will rise tothespill level, as indicated bythe reference numeral 58. Excess of water delivered to the tank l8 andunder these conditions will be expected to flow into the overflow pipel6 and out of the tank Hi. It is, however, possible that even underthese conditions the flow of water into the tank I!) is greater than canbe taken care of by the overflow pipe l6, and the water may rise to thelevel indicated by the reference 7 numeral This is the overflow spilllevel and is the top level to which the water can rise in the tank 10,even though the float 48 has broken away from its supporting member 41.At the level 5| there will be a head of water sufficiently great todrive the water through the overflow pipe id as fast as such water isdelivered to the tank [0 through the discharge orifice 28 of the valve.

The valve discharge level is indicated by the reference numeral 52, andupon inspection of Figure 1, it will be apparent that the distancebetween the levels 5| and 52 provides an ample air gap to preclude thepossibility of the water rising to a level within the tank sufiicientlygreat to permit back flow of water to the source of supply under anypossible circumstances.

In actual commercial construction the distance between the top of theoverflow pipe l6 and the overflow spill level indicated by the referencenumeral 5| is the factor of safety or minimum distance provided for theheight of the water or the possible height the water in the tank wouldreach in the event of flooding by reason of the float 48 beingdisconnected or broken off. The distance between the tank overflow level58 and the valve discharge level 52 is the air gap or air space which isprovided and to prevent any water in the tank from returning to thewater supply system by back flow such as back siphonage.

Whereas I have described my invention by reference to specific formsthereof, it will be under stood that many changes and modifications maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

In an improved flush tank filling means the combination of a tank, anoverflow waste pipe mounted therein and determining the normal height ofwater within the tank, an inwardly extending rib formed on the rear wallof the tank and extending into the tank and defining a groove on therear wall of the tank, a plurality of flutes formed on the front face ofthe rib, a source of water supply including a pipe positioned in thegroove and a lateral pipe connected to and extending through aperforation in the rib and adjacent the upper open end of the tank, anda water supply valve secured to the lateral, said water supply valvebeing positioned adjacent the top of the tank and with the outletleading water into the tank located well above the possible height thatwater within the tank may attain under any condition of service, suchconstruction establishing a fixed air gap between the supply valve andany possible height to which water may rise within the tank to preventback siphonage of water to the source of supply, and said constructionalso preventing pollution of pure water from the supply by maintainingthe supply pipe out of contact at all times with Water within the tank.

WILLIAM C. GROENIGER.

